Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1197261
it diverted. Come on—for a Sound Mixer—that's the stuff of dreams! The only downside is when we could hear live shelling going on in the "impact zone" where the real army were training. We were lucky most of the time and it didn't impact our sound recording too much. I had the best crew who made it all run smoothly, six of us full time and eight on the biggest days. HUGH SHERLOCK, a former gymnast, equally adept in a choreographed dance with the camera as in using a sewing machine to make transmitter pouches. TOM FENNELL, long-term collaborator and expert in radio mic concealment and costume negotiations. DAVID GILES, a sound mixer in his own right, ready to back me up and take on the challenge of sending and receiving any audio anywhere. TOM WILKIN making sure the key crew could hear what they needed to at any point. MICHAEL FEARON, all-round flexible support assis- tant. ROB PILLER, Fibre-optic Specialist, and running repairs. THOMAS DORNAN, Sound Trainee, ready to have a go at anything with a bright future ahead. It's the first time I've managed to work with the brilliant Sound Editing team of Oliver Tarney, Rachael Tate, and their crew. They've really managed to make the best of the location sound and bring it onto another level with the sound design work. It was a real gift to work with a director that understands the power of sound in performance. In this way, we are party to something one-off and intimate. We tell a precise emotional story and not a general one. Sam pushes every- one to do their best work and that can be hard but when you get there, it's all worth it. It was a big challenge tech- nically but incredibly rewarding to be part of such a truly collaborative experience. for the winches. The result was one of my favourite shots of the film, barely a word is spoken, yet it is gripping and the connec- tion with the characters is completely held. I have to pay tribute to lead actor George MacKay's as a result of his great collaborative spirit, he didn't have to replace any of his dialog as all the recordings of his live performance were usable. On one shot we had him wear- ing four radio mics at the same time or two body-worn recorders when he went down the river and underwater. It's very difficult to get wireless transmission through water so body-worn recorders were used as well, in case of any wireless dropouts. We filmed a lot on a location called Salisbury Plain. It's a huge area of land owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) where we'd been given permission to film. It felt like a spe- cial opportunity. Hardly anyone lives there. Beautiful rolling countryside that looks the same as it did one hundred years ago. It was quite surreal as if we'd been dropped in the middle of wilderness, as a film crew, free to use it to stage our story For sound, it was fantastic and because it's controlled by the MoD, we were even able to put a 'no-fly zone' in place. If there was an aircraft, they'd find out what it was and get Effects recording The troops charge as Lance Corporal Schofield tries to warn them. Photo by Francois Duhamel/Universal & DreamWorks